Was it right? 7

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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The fox closed his eyes and sighed before looking at me and speaking. " We shall surrender. "

"Inkosi Imani, are you sure? "

" We can fight! "

" The child is probably talking lies. "

Many such comments came from the guards around the now-known, Inkosi Imani. The inkosi raised his finger and everyone went silent. " I have my decision. I shall not endanger everyone's lives for an already lost war. Even if the warriors are not as skilled as the child says, their amount of warriors alone can overwhelm us. We must be thankful that they decided to be peaceful about it and accept it. "

I walked up to the inkosi with a smile on my face. " I thank you for accepting. Wisdom and intellect are often found lacking in people of power so I must tell you that I already hold a high amount of respect for you. "

Even though the man readily accepted, it was clear that he only did so reluctantly. His face had a deep frown on it even after my compliments, so I decided to try to quell any negative feelings off the bat. " Inkosi Imani, I shall tell you now that we shall not treat your people poorly as long as they follow our words. I shall personally ensure it is so. "

I guess the words of a child do not inspire hope because his frown only deepened. I was still not entirely trusting of the fox's words so I planned to leave after informing Inkosi Imani of how things would work. It was a spur-in-the-moment decision so I was unprepared.

While we were walking to Inkosi Imani's village, I had a multitude of thoughts circling in my mind about what I would ask for. I was broken out of my thoughts by the words of the inkosi.

" I must thank you for going easy on my child and men. He is my eldest and quite the hot head. Something I wish he had not inherited from his mother. "

I was walking next to the inkosi while my men were close behind on my side while the inkosi's men were walking on his side. I took a glance at the inkosi's child along with the men I knocked out being carried back to the village with us and couldn't help but sneak a small smirk and slightly puff out my chest.

" It was nothing, but I have to note that I do not remember hearing you try to stop him. " I side-eyed the old man with suspicion. " Sometimes he is too uncontrollable. He is the type to learn from experience. I do apologize. "

I felt he was not telling the full truth. I suspected he did not stop his child either because he wanted the kid dead or to see our skill level. I wasn't entirely sure though so I only kept them as theories. " It is good to learn from experience but not in the presence of potential enemies. If it were any other person, he would have lost his life and you would be in a losing battle as you had said."

His only response was a nod so I took it as the end of the conversation. That was when I felt a tap on my shoulder from behind and saw Sifiso. I slowed my pace and made some space between me and the inkosi for a bit of privacy.

" The archers and scouts are still in hiding. What shall we do with them? " Oh yeah, I had forgotten about them with so much happening so fast. " Get the scouts but keep the archers in hiding and close by. We cannot show all our cards so soon. "

He nodded before saluting and leaving to execute my orders. When we were about a few dozen meters away, the scouts joined us and the inkosi only looked at us with a bit of suspicion and curiosity but kept quiet. As we arrived at the entrance, the Inkosi stopped and looked back at us.

" Not all of you can come in. There is no need to worry as your safety shall be ensured. " I did not trust the inkosi enough to be left alone with him in enemy territory so I of course had to refuse. " I shall bring twenty men, no less. "

" There is no need to worry. We have surrendered and I am smart enough to know that breaking that agreement would lead to my death. You have even spoken of my intellect or were your words simply meaningless? "

The challenge in his words was obvious to anyone and I needed to respond in kind. " Indeed you have surrendered but not everyone may be willing. Plus you have shown that you are unable to control those unruly amongst you. I cannot feel safe when there is a possibility of someone or groups of people attacking me and no one can stop them. "

The inkosi furrowed his brows and deepened his already-plastered frown and I only smiled innocently like the child I was. We had a bit of a staring contest before he finally relented. "Very well. "

I chose the ten scouts and five intelligence gathers along with their respective leaders and elite warriors amongst my men to fill in the rest of the empty spots. I ordered them to get her as much info as possible as quickly as possible. It would be of help in determining what I could ask for and in what amount.

I left Sifiso in charge of the rest outside before entering. I ordered him to attack the village if I didn't come out by evening. The village wasn't anything special. Just a smaller version of the previous one we were at. While being guided by the inkosi, one by one, my men split off and began with the gathering.

We finally stopped and it appeared to be the Inkosi's house. There were only five of my men left after the split-off. The inkosi entered and I followed right behind. Then began the stalling. I needed my men to get enough time to do their recon.

I started by asking for a meal as I was a bit hungry. Then I asked for the details of his village. From population to harvest and cow amount. This made me aware of some I had ignored. Information. Inkosi Imani knew next to nothing about his village. All he knew was that everyone was fed, his population was growing and his family was doing well.

Something told me that Inkosi Imani was not an outlier in this lack of knowledge. While I was in my thoughts, a couple of women entered with an assortment of dishes in their hands. I was a bit surprised at the amount but I didn't mind trying to finish it all, especially the meat. Even for a child of an inkosi, meat was a delicacy.

After I had a cow and a half of food I realised how dumb I was to just eat without checking for poison. The thought had my heart racing and it must have showed as the inkosi in front of me began laughing." If I wanted to kill you, I would not have done it in such a cowardly way. "

His words didn't fill me with immediate confidence but it wasn't like I could have changed anything since I had already eaten. I couldn't help but notice how impulsive I had gotten in this life. ' Maybe it's because of my age. ' I thought before my attention was taken by the guard who came in.

" Inkosi, the visitors would like to speak to their... " The guard's words grew quieter at the end, with a look clearly showing that he didn't know what to call me. The inkosi allowed me to quickly exit his home and I found Themba waiting for me.

After a quick report, I had a basic view of what I should ask. Unfortunately, Themba focused more on speed and less on detail on the mission which I understood but this left me with little to work with when I entered the Inkosi's home.

" Are you done gaining information about my land? " I was honestly surprised at the inkosi's words when I entered and he shot me a knowing smile. " Did you honestly think I would not know that your people were snooping around my village? "

I only looked at the inkosi with a bit of embarrassment. " Honestly, yes. " The inkosi burst out laughing at my answer and I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as well. " I guess I was a bit stupid to think you wouldn't notice. "

" ingane(child), I have not been an inkosi this long by being ignorant of the happenings around me. "

I guessed he was right. I let out a sigh before looking at the inkosi with a suspicious look. " So you do know what and how much your village makes. " The old man only gave a clueless shrug which I knew was a clear lie.

I tried to pry any info I could from the man but he didn't budge so I had to negotiate with the little I knew. I had started off the negotiation by asking for twenty-two cows worth of goods and the inkosi nearly coughed up a lung at what I asked for.

He then asked for five cows worth and the bargaining started. We eventually ended with a deal of nine cows worth of goods every five weeks and every increase of a hundred people in his village population would be an increase of one cow.

At first, I thought I was being scammed but after proper thought, I realised how hard it was to gain resources. It wasn't the modern day where gaining resources was easy due to properly established techniques, machinery, no threat of a random village attacking your workers and no threat of starvation due to lack of farmers in the fields. We then discussed the other terms and conditions of the deal.

For one, the inkosi had to implement anything we ask of them but in turn, we could not ask of anything that would endanger the village.

Then we discussed how the tax would be done. If we were at war, we could initially ask for war tax which would be triple the amount we would normally ask for. Then the rest of the tax during the war would increase by a quarter of what we normally ask for. Once the war was over, we would decrease taxes by a quarter for the same amount of time as the war lasted.

I didn't want to discuss too much since I had no way of implementing and enforcing anything I asked for besides what I had already asked for. " You are quite the surprise ingane, I did not expect a child to be able to discuss such serious matters respectably and reasonably. You are better than my son and he must be double your age. "

I couldn't help but smile at the compliment but didn't let it increase my ego. " I still have a lot to learn, but that is why I'm here I guess." The old man nodded agreeing with my statement before speaking.

" I see a bright for you if you continue like this. Not many children around your age can do what you can on the battlefield and at the diplomatic table. I may have to stand with you in future if you continue to show such skill and intelligence. I'm sure any blunders or naive thoughts such as today are something time can rectify. "

The inkosi was smiling at me which felt a bit weird as I thought he would have been more hostile. " Thank you for the kind words. I honestly thought you would be more hostile. " The inkosi only laughed at my statement before giving me a smile." I am an old man and an inkosi, I have learned how useless it is to hold grudges and to be mad at a child would be foolish. Plush, it would be best for my villages to have good relations with the Mthethwa. "

With that, I said my last goodbye and left in a happy mood due to a successful meeting and a possible ally in future. After we left the village, I decided that I not take more chances and head back to the village. I wasn't looking forward to heading back as I knew Baba would be mad for obvious reasons but I didn't regret my impulsive decision to leave.

It was a good experience and I got an ally in an inkosi other than Baba. During the entire way, my commanders pestered me to continue our little expedition. I had been given various reasons from more experience to building more allies but I could see that it was just excuses to justify being away from the village.

It seemed the adventurous spirit had possessed them all but I couldn't blame them. They had been stuck in the same village with little to nothing to do but train. I felt the same but I knew the importance of why we needed to head back.